LFW Summer-Resort 2016: Creativity at best with star power (Review)

Mumbai, April 4 (IANS) Whether it is Rahul Mishra’s love for textile, ace designer Rohit Bal’s fascination with lotus motifs, young designer Dhruv Vaish’s eclectic mix of fabrics or brand Amrich’s mixing of modern with contemporary — the summer-resort edition of Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) 2016 witnessed some eye-catching trends, and a heavy dose of Bollywood star presence both on and off the runway.

Returning after his triumphant show at Paris Fashion Week, International Woolmark Award Winner 2014, Mishra dazzled the audience with his fresh summer 2016 collection called ‘Knots of Love’ at the fashion gala, which concluded on Sunday.

The basis of Mishra’s collection has always been textiles and the designer did not disappoint at LFW too.

“Inspired by the patterns and designs that are seen on beautiful porcelain, I worked around them and then sprinkled the garments with ‘bandhani’. I also added to these fine crafts the centuries-old technique of draping and created a fine blend of handmade knowledge and detailing for the exquisite creations,” said the designer.

Another established designer, Arjun Saluja impressed fashionistas with art installations at the event, where multiple designers promoted use of Indian textile and handicrafts.

“We used different mediums and perspective to tell the story, so the approach was very different. We worked on aging techniques to give the clothes a more distressed look. There is lot of Indian influence in our work as we work on classic Indian shapes and deconstruct them to give them a new shape and form,” Saluja told IANS.

Rohit Bal, who has set many a fashion trends in the industry, stole the limelight with his finale presentation. From yards of mulmul to hues of sunset golds and pristine ivories, there was a presentation of handmade cut-works and lattice, intertwined with organic fabrics and age-old techniques of Indian heritage.

Young designers proved their talent too.

Dhruv Vaish, who presented collection titled ‘Cerulean’, told IANS: “LFW has helped us reach out to the world, and at the same time has given us exposure to what’s happening around the world. There are some great buyers encouraging the designers.”

AMRICH, a brand run by duo Amit Vijaya and Richard Pandav, drew inspiration from the intersection of traditions, techniques, styles and habits for the collection at LFW.

“With the concept of moving dots creating lines and moving lines creating surfaces, we have made use of a lot of stripes and checks to create overlapping textures,” Vijaya told IANS.

He added: “Lakme Fashion Week is a great platform for designers big and small and it really helps us to put our work across to a wide variety of people from around the world.

“To get that kind of exposure for any of us designers is definitely a boost for our business in terms of branding. Having established our label’s presence in high end designer stores across the country in the last five years, we would like to push the brand further by reaching out to international buyers with the help and support of LFW. This season we have also launched Amrich Goods – a range of leather bags to accentuate our clothing line,” he added.

While creativity was on a high at the just-concluded fashion gala, Bollywood presence too gave attendees a reason to cheer. While several faces walked the runway as a showstopper for many leading designers, there were some popular names who supported their favourite names from the front row.